7 'HE PEACOCK 

4 • AND THE 

^WISHING-FAIRY 



CORINNE INGRAHAM 




COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




































* 







t 




























































V 
















































* 





THE PEACOCK AND THE WISHING-FAIRY 























“I am going to punish you for never being satisfied ; 
for always asking for more” 
























THE PEACOCK 

AND THE 

WISHING-FAIRY 

AND OTHER STORIES 

BY 

CORINNE INGRAHAM 

[“CORINNE”! 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 

Dugald Stewart Walker 



NEW YORK 

BRENTANO’S 

PUBLISHERS 










A ^ 

Vy^i2/ 


Copyright, 1921, by 

BRENTANO’S 


All rights reserved 


OCT 28'21 

©CI.A630044 


^ I 












XLo 

MY CHILDREN 

CORINNE AND PHOENIX 
TO WHOM THESE LITTLE 
STORIES WERE FIRST TOLD 




























































FOREWORD 


^ELL a child stories of legends and of fairies, so that 
he can hear the music of the little creatures of the 
woods, and can sense the throbbing of the flowers’ 
hearts; and you will have given him some¬ 
thing that will tint his whole life with 
beauty—a beauty which sordid details of 
the world can not smother. 

The young mind should early be im¬ 
pregnated with the poetry of nature; for 
without doubt the impressions of baby¬ 
hood remain the most poignant of life. 

It is my conviction that only by constant repetition in the 
simple and direct wording familiar to a child can big under¬ 
lying truths be accentuated in his forming mind. 

With this in view I have tried in the following sketches to 
establish a certain animal fellowship, including a moral sig¬ 
nificance which the little one will unconsciously accept. 

I should like to see in every nursery a song-bird, 
a bowl of fish and a pot of growing flowers,—and 
without, the wide, wild fields and woods. 




Corrinne Ingraham. 





















































THE PEACOCK AND THE WISHING-FAIRY 



THE PEACOCK WHO WANTED TOO MUCH 


^NCE upon a time, very long ago, the Peacock was 
walking around in the grass looking for something 
to eat, when suddenly he saw the Squirrel. 

The Peacock and the Squirrel were great friends, so 
he walked over to the Squirrel, and the first thing he 
said was: 

“Won’t you please tell me how you happen to have 
that beautiful bushy tail? You used to have a tail like 
your cousin the Rat’s.” 

“Of course I’ll tell you,” answer the Squirrel. “It 
happened this way. I had heard from Cottontail, and 
from several other friends of mine, that far off at the End-of- 
the-earth there lives a Wishing-Fairy whose name is Stella, 




THE PEACOCK WHO WANTED TOO MUCH 


and that if any one goes to her and tells her what he wants, she 
makes his wish come true. You know how often I had been 
unhappy because my back was always cold. So I went to see 
Stella and told her that I wished there was some way to keep 
my back nice and warm, and she gave me this bushy tail, so 
that now I am very comfortable.” 

“What is Stella like?” asked the Peacock. 

“She is perfectly beautiful,” the Squirrel answered. “She 
is the prettiest thing I have 
ever seen.” 

“It must be wonderful to 
be so lovely,” the Peacock 
said; “I wish I were.” 

“Well,” laughed the 
Squirrel, “that is easy; all 
you have to do is to go to her 
and tell her that you wish 



it, and she will make you 


beautiful.” 

“Do you really think she will?” asked the Peacock. 

“I know she will,” answered the Squirrel. “Why don’t 
you start now? You go over that way” (and the Squirrel 
pointed with one of his paws) “and don’t stop until you come 
to the End-of-the-earth. It is a long way and you are very 
lazy; but you will find her if you keep straight on and don’t 
stop or turn back.” 

The Peacock thought a minute. “Yes, I’ll go. I’ll start 
now.” And he did. 



THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


It took him a long while to reach Stella and her lovely 
lily-house, and he was very tired and thirsty; so that he was 
glad to drink out of the Get-little-pool, when one of the 
Brownies asked him to do so. He told Stella that he wanted 
to be beautiful. So Stella waved her wand with the tiny star 
on it around him, and suddenly he found that he had the most 
wonderful tail of eighteen long feathers, that trailed on the 
ground when he wanted it to, and that he could spread it out 
like a big fan back of him, when he wished to show it to any 
one. The Peacock was delighted, and he thanked Stella and 
went home. 



All his friends thought that the Peacock’s long feathers were 
lovely, and he was very proud and happy. He spent all his 
time spreading the feathers, so that he could show them to 
everybody. 


THE PEACOCK WHO WANTED TOO MUCH 


After he had been home a little while, he thought he would 
go back to see Stella again. 

Stella was very surprised to see him, and she was even more 
surprised when he whispered in her ear that he had come back 
to her with the wish to be still more beautiful. 

“Very well,” said Stella, “I will put all kinds of wonderful 
colors on your feathers.” 

So she waved her wand three times around the Peacock, 
and all of a sudden his feathers became the most beautiful he 
had ever seen, and he was so happy and excited that he forgot 
to drink out of the Get-big-pool after he had thanked Stella 
and told her good-by. 

When he had gone and was already quite a ways home, he 
suddenly remembered the Get-big-pool, and he went all the 
way back to it to drink out of it, so as to become as large as he 
had been before he had drunk out of the Get-little-pool. 

The Peacock was very happy for some time, because every 
one would tell him how lovely he was; but after a while 
back he went again to see Stella. Again he begged her to 
make him even more beautiful. 

Stella thought a minute, then she called the Brownies and 
asked them what they thought she could do for the Pea¬ 
cock. 

They all sat around and thought and thought for several 
minutes, but they could not think how the Peacock could 
possibly be prettier. At last, one of them said to Stella: 

“I have an idea. You have already put all the loveliest 


THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 



colors in his feathers. I don’t see that there is anything more 
you can do but give him a little crown.” 

“That is a splendid idea,” said Stella, smiling. “I shall do 
it.” So she waved her wand three times around the Peacock’s 
head. He had a very queer feeling in his head. 

“What is on my head?” asked the Peacock. “I cannot see 
it! Oh! I wish I could see it! Have I a crown?” 

“Yes,” answered Stella, “and it is a lovely crown. I will 
tell you how you can see it. When you drink out of the Get- 
big-pool, bend as far as you can over it and look down. 
In the water you will be able to see the crown that I have 
given you. I hope that you will like it. Good-by.” 






THE PEACOCK WHO WANTED TOO MUCH 

“Good-by, Stella; you have been very good to me. I thank 
you ever so much. I am very happy now.” And the Peacock 
hurried away to the Get-big-pool. He leaned away over the 
water, just as Stella had told him to, and he found that he 
could see himself just as well as you can see yourself in a 
mirror. He stayed there a long time looking at his crown and 
admiring himself. 



He was very, very happy. At last he started home; but he 
did not stay there long, he went back AGAIN to see Stella. 

She was very astonished to see him, because he had already 
come three times to the End-of-the-earth. 

“What DO you want now?” Stella asked him. 

The Peacock seemed a bit ashamed to answer, but at last he 
whispered, “I wish to be made still more beautiful.” 

“What!” cried Stella, “do you mean to tell me that you are 
not yet satisfied? You have had three wishes—each time you 












THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


asked the same thing—to be made more beautiful. No won¬ 
der you are hanging your head. You ought to be ashamed of 
yourself. I am very angry, and what is more, I am going to 
punish you.” And she called all her Brownies to come 
quickly to her. 

By this time the Peacock was very frightened. He begged 
Stella to forgive him, but she was awfully angry. The Pea¬ 
cock tried to run away, but Stella made the Brownies hold 
him, and then she told one of them to get her the “punishment 
powder.” 

The Peacock was crying and crying and trying as hard as 
he could to get away from the Brownies who were holding 
him. He could not move. 

“Please forgive me, Stella,” he cried; “please, please, 
please.” 

“No,” she answered, “I am going to punish you for never 
being satisfied and for always asking for more.” 

“What are you going to do to me?” sobbed the Peacock, as 
a Brownie handed Stella a nasty, old, brown toad-stool which 
was full of a dark powder that smelled awfully. “Oh! what 
are you going to do?” 

“I am going to make you have such a hard loud voice that 
whenever you call or scream every one will want you to be 
quiet; and they will see that even though you are the most 
beautiful bird in the world, you have the ugliest voice. They 
will then know that no one can possibly have everything ” 


THE PEACOCK WHO WANTED TOO MUCH 


The Peacock was crying and crying while Stella threw the 
nasty punishment powder three times in his face. 

“One,” she said and threw a little of the powder. 

“Two,” she said and threw the powder the second time. 
The Peacock’s voice became so loud t)hat all the Brownies 
jumped. 

“Three,” cried Stella, as she threw the rest of the powder 
in the Peacock’s face. 

When she did this, his voice suddenly became so awful that 
the Brownies ran away as fast as they could go, because they 
did not want to hear the Peacock. His voice was simply 
terrible. 

“Now,” said Stella in a very angry tone, “go drink out of the 
Get-big-pool and go home and don’t ever let me see you 
again.” 

So now you know why the beautiful Peacock has such an 
ugly voice. It is because he was never satisfied. He wanted 
too much, so Stella punished him. And now he knows that 
no one can have everything he wants. 




X 


THE TURTLE’S WISH 


SUPPOSE you think that the Turtle is very ugly and 
stupid. 

Some are not as pretty as others. Some have very 
beautiful colors on their shells. Neither are they 
stupid, because they are very patient, and any one who 
is patient is never stupid. 

They are patient in this way: 

A turtle will stay perfectly quiet for long hours try¬ 
ing to cath flies and insects in his mouth; they are what 
turtles like to eat. The insects, of course, are careful 
not to come too near him, so that sometimes it is quite 
hard for Mr. Turtle to find enough for his dinner, and he is 
often hungry. He is also patient when he travels, for try as 





























THE TURTLE’S WISH 


hard as he will, he just cannot go fast,—so he has to be patient. 

The Turtle was sitting in the sun one day on a big stone 
near the water. He was nice and warm and also half asleep, 
when suddenly he heard Mr. Peacock and Mrs. Pelican talk¬ 
ing together. 

At first he thought he was dreaming; but he was so sur¬ 
prised at what they were saying that suddenly he found that 
he # was quite wide awake, so he turned his head way around, 
and sure enough there they were behind a bush near the water 
and near enough for him to hear everything they were talking 
about. So he listened. The Peacock was telling about how 
he had gone three times to see Stella, the Wishing Fairy, to be 
made always more beautiful, and how he had then gone to her 
a fourth time and that this time Stella had punished him with 
the punishment powder and how terrible it had been. 

“Well,” said Mrs. Pelican, “Stella was lovely to me. Mr. 
Pelican and I were given longer legs by her and then when 
we went again she gave us our beak-pockets, so that we can 
carry all the fish we catch in it, home to our babies. She was 
very nice to us ” 

The Peacock thought a moment. 

“She told me why she punished me,” he said. “It was be¬ 
cause I was selfish. I suppose I was. Pm sorry now. With 
you it was different. You were asking for something that 
would help you feed your family.” 

“Did it take you long to reach the End-of-the-earth?” asked 
Mrs. Pelican, to change the subject. 


THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 

“Not very,” answered Mr. Peacock. “How long did it take 
you?” 

“Well, I fly very fast. I didn’t mind the traveling at all. 
I don’t know exactly how long I was gone.” 

“Which way did you go?” asked Mr. Peacock. 

“That way,” Mrs. Pelican answered, and pointed with her 
beak. “Straight that way. I never turned to either side. 

Stella is a wonderful 
fairy. Think of it: 
she can make any 
wish come true.” 

Just then the Tur¬ 
tle heard a little 
splash in the water 
near the stone on 
which he was sitting, and Mr. Frog swam up to him. His 
eyes were wide open and he was very excited. 

“Did you hear that too?” asked the Turtle. 

“I should think I did,” Mr. Frog answered, “and I never 
was so glad to hear anything in my life. I am going home to 
Mrs. Frog, and I shall tell her all about what Mr. Peacock 
and Mrs. Pelican said, and it will not be very long before 
Mrs. Frog and I will start for the End-of-the-earth. Don’t 
you want to go with us?” 

“Yes,” the Turtle said, “but it takes me such a long while to 
get anywhere. I am so slow.” 

“Oh! that’s nothing,” Mr. Frog said. “If we three go to- 








THE TURTLE’S WISH 


gether we won’t mind how much time we will have to travel. 
We can also have lots of fun on the way together.” 

“Very well, then,” said the Turtle. “I should love to. 
It’s very nice of you to want me to go with you.” 

“That’s splendid,” 

Mr. Frog said. 

“You start on ahead 
because you are slow, 
and I’ll go home now 
and get my wife, and we will soon be with you; because we can 
hop very quickly. Good-by! We will see you shortly.” 
And away he hopped. 

The Turtle was going along slowly, but he never stopped or 
turned his head to right or left. He just—kept—straight— 
on—and on—and on. After awhile, Mr. and Mrs. Frog, who 
had caught up with him, were hopping along, one on each side. 

Presently, Mrs. Frog said she was tired, and what do you 
suppose the Turtle said to her? He told her to get on his 
back and rest, because he was sure he was strong enough to 
carry her. 

So up she jumped, and for a long time that is how they 
traveled, Mr. Frog hopping on ahead and stopping and wait¬ 
ing for the Turtle who was slow, and the Turtle going pa¬ 
tiently along with Mrs. Frog riding on his back! 

That must have looked funny! 

Don’t you think so? 

Every now and then they would stop and rest in the sun. 




THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 



They were all very thirsty when at last they reached the 
End-of-the-earth. Oh! how glad they were to see the Get- 
little-pool! They drank and they drank and they drank. 
When they had had enough water they raised their heads, and 
as they saw one another they all burst out laughing, for each 
one had grown very tiny. Oh! how they laughed! 

They were all three sitting and looking at each other and 
laughing as hard as they could, when several Brownies came 
running up to see what the noise was about. 

“What are you laughing at?” they asked. 

“Because we have all grown so small—we look so funny.” 

“You must have been drinking out of the Get-little-pool,” 
one of the Brownies said, as he looked at them. 

“Do you want to see Stella?” another one asked. 

“I should think so,” Mr. Frog answered. “That is why we 
came.” 



“The Turtle going patiently along with Mrs. 


Frog riding on his back” 
























THE TURTLE’S WISH 


“May we see her soon?” asked Mrs. Frog. 

“Yes, indeed,” a third Brownie said. “I’ll go now and tell 
her that you are here. Just wait a moment; I won’t be very 
long.” And he hurried off to the lily-house. 

But Stella wasn’t there. It was a warm day; she was sitting 
on a clover flower in a shady place, and she was fanning her¬ 
self with a dragon-fly wing. 

That was her fan! 

As soon as she heard of the Frogs’ and the Turtle’s visit she 
jumped down from the flower, and, taking up her wand, 
which was lying on the ground where she had thrown it, she 
went to the Get-little-pool. The Frogs and the Turtle were 
still laughing at one another. They were laughing so hard 
that Stella began to laugh too, and then one by one all the 
Brownies joined in. 

You never heard so much laughter! 

At last, when they had all stopped laughing, Stella dried 
her eyes on some dandelion fluff that she always kept as a 
handkerchief in her pocket. 

“Well,” she began, “what a wonderful laugh that was! I 
am quite tired.” 

Every one else was also tired. So they all sat around for 
some time and rested, and while they were resting the Turtle 
told Stella of how he had overheard Mr. Peacock and Mrs. 
Pelican talking, and how he had in that way learned of the 
End-of-the-earth fairy. 

“Do you always make wishes come true, Stella?” he asked. 


THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


“Always—if they are good wishes,” she answered. “Tell 
me what is your wish?” 

“My wish is to be able in some way to get away from any¬ 
thing that wants to gobble me up, for I am always frightened, 
and I am tired of being frightened. It is very unpleasant. 
For instance, when I see the Pelicans I always have to hide.” 

“So do we,” cried Mr. and Mrs. Frog. 

Stella turned around and looked at them. 

“But it is very easy for you to get away,” she said to the 
Frogs. “You can hop so far and so quickly. I feel sorry 
though for Mr. Turtle. I shall have to think of some way to 
help him.” 

“Please get me my thinking cap?” she asked one of her 
Brownies. “I must think up an idea.” 

“Certainly,” answered the Brownie. “But before I go I 
want to ask you a question. What is better than an idea?” 

“I don’t know,” answered Stella. “What is better than an 
idea?” 

“A you dear,” laughed the Brownie, and he took her hand 
and kissed it. 

“That is very nice of you,” Stella said, and her little cheeks 
became as pink as her dress; but the Brownie had already 
gone. When he brought her the thinking cap, she put it on. 
It was a big cap and she could even put it over her little 
crown. 

All of a sudden she cried out, “I know—” 

“Know what!” every one asked. 


THE TURTLE’S WISH 


“Come here,” cried Stella to the Turtle. “I have a splendid 
thought”; and with that she began waving her wand very 
quickly around and around him. 

He had the queerest feeling all over his skin. 

“What can be the matter with me?” he cried. “I almost 
feel sick. Oh, Stella! what is happening to me?” 

“You are all right,” the Fairy said. “Don’t be so fright¬ 
ened. You don’t suppose for one moment that I would hurt 
you?” 

“No,” answered the Turtle, “but I have a very strange feel¬ 
ing all over me. I don’t understand it.” 

“I know what it is,” and Stella smiled. “Now—” (She 
was waving her wand around him for the third time.) “Look 
at yourself!” 

What do you suppose had happened to the Turtle? 

His soft, brown skin had by this time changed into a hard 
shell! 

You can imagine how astonished every one was. All the 
Brownies and also Mr. and Mrs. Frog crowded around him 
to see it. 

“Work it,” said Stella to the Turtle (she 
was smiling more and more), “and see what 
happens.” 

With that Mr. Turtle tried to move his 
head and feet, and the next thing he knew he 
was all covered up by his shell. 

He was just like a hard round box with himself on the inside. 



THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


Did you ever! 

From away in his shell they could hear him saying: 

“But I am lost! I cannot find myself inside here in the 
dark. I don’t think I like this.” 

“Oh! yes, you will like it,” laughed Stella, “for now noth¬ 
ing can hurt you. If any one wants to gobble you up, all you 
have to do is to close your shell around yourself, then you 
can listen, and when they have gone away you can open your 
shell and walk again.” 

“Can I?” asked Mr. Turtle. “I didn’t know that” 

As he spoke he found he could open his shell. “Why, 
hello, everybody!” he shouted, as his head and legs came out 
from his shell. “Here I am again! This is the most wonder¬ 
ful thing I ever saw. That was a splendid thought that came 
to you when you put on your thinking cap, Stella.” 

“Do you like it?” she asked. 

“Like it! I should think I do. I am so happy now that I 
just cannot thank you enough. It is a fine idea, and you are, 
just as the Brownie said, a —you dear.” 

“I am very glad you are so happy,”—and Stella turned to 
the Frogs. “Have you a wish?” she asked them. 

“No, thank you,” they both answered. “We only came,” 
added Mrs. Frog, “because we were so curious to see you and 
the Brownies and the End-of-the-earth.” 

“Well,” Stella said, “if you ever should have a wish, come 
back to me and I will make it come true. Now, you had 


THE TURTLE’S WISH 


better drink out of the Get-big-pool, so as to again be your 
own size.” 

All the way home the Turtle kept working his new shell. 
Mr. and Mrs. Frog would hop near and watch him as he 
closed himself up in it and then came out again. Every time 
he did it, they would all three laugh and laugh together. 

It was great fun. 

Now, you know how the Turtle got his shell, and you also 
know why. So that he can get inside where nothing can hurt 
him, and where he is perfectly safe from his enemies. 




XI 


HOW THE LIZARD BECAME A CHAMELEON 


F you were green, even to your hair, eyes and lips, and if 
you wore a green suit, and if you were sitting on the 
green grass, it would not be very easy to see you be¬ 
cause you, being all green, would look like the green 
grass—everything would be the same color. 

That is why during the summer in the different 
colored bushes, the Ermine is gray and brown, while 
in the winter as soon as the snow comes he turns 
white. He then looks almost the same as the white 
snow. It protects him from larger animals, that 
might hurt him. 

Where there is no snow, rabbits are always a grayish brown, 
but in countries where the snow is on the ground all through 





























HOW THE LIZARD BECAME A CHAMELEON 


the summer as well as throughout the winter you will never 
find colored rabbits. In those countries they are never any¬ 
thing but pure white. 

That is also why zebras and tigers are striped. They live in 
jungle grass, the blades of which are like long razor-shaped 
stripes. 

Snakes generally look like the ground on which they live. 
Sand-Snakes are sand colored. Snakes that live where the 
earth is black are black themselves; while in countries where 
the clay is red—the snakes are also red. 

It is very interesting. Don’t you find it so? 

If you will stop and think you will be able to remember any 
amount of animals, birds and fish that are colored like the 
place which is their home. 

The snake is a cousin of the lizard. Their heads look ex¬ 
actly the same. The lizard’s is smaller and he has four feet, 
while the snake, who is very long, has none. There is another 
difference: the snake is often very dangerous; some are not, 
but almost all of them are. They have a very poisonous bite, 
while the lizard hasn’t. 






THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


Lizards are terribly lazy. They like to do nothing but lie 
all day in the sun and snap at flies and insects which they eat. 

One day a lizard was stretched in the sun on a wall. He 
was half asleep, but every now and then he would open one 
eye, to be sure that he wasn’t missing anything. All of a sud¬ 
den a long green snake glided up to him. 

“Hello!” the Snake called to him. “What are you doing?” 

“Nothing,” the Lizard answered. “Nothing but being 
comfortable. I like to be comfortable.” 

“That’s nothing,” the Snake went on. “Every one likes to 
be that. I do myself,” he added, as he curled himself around 
and around with only his head sticking up. “Come down and 
talk to me.” 

“I don’t want to move,” the Lizard said, who was too lazy 
even to be polite. 

“You are not very nice,” the Snake hissed back; “you know 
perfectly well that I, having no legs, can’t go up that wall to 
you, while you, having four absolutely good ones, can easily 
run down to me. Please come down. I won’t hurt you.” 

“Very well,” the Lizard said at last. He was blinking his 
half-closed eyes. 

On his way down a big bird happened to fly past him. 
This frightened him so that instantly a bright crimson thing 
like a tiny balloon came from his throat and stuck out of 
his mouth. 

“What in the world is that?” the astonished snake asked, 
as the bird disappeared in the tree-tops. 


HOW THE LIZARD BECAME A CHAMELEON 


“What is what?” asked the Lizard. 

“That little red balloon sticking out of your 
mouth.” 

“Oh that!” exclaimed the Lizard carelessly. 
“I always throw that out when I am nervous. 
I think I do it to frighten whatever has fright¬ 
ened me” By this time he had already swal¬ 
lowed it again. “You know,” he continued, 
as he came closer to the Snake, “you are ex¬ 
actly the same green as the grass. It is al¬ 
most hard to see you. I wish I were like that, 
for I would not be bothered or frightened so 
often if I couldn’t be seen.” He thought a 
moment, then he went on, “You are green, and 
you are always in the grass, but sometimes I 
am among the green leaves and other times I 
am on the brown trunk of a tree; then again I 
run across a white wall or I may be stretched 
along a red flower—I suppose I couldn’t pos¬ 
sibly be every color at once” 

“I should think you would go to see Stella,” the Snake said, 
and his bright little eyes were sparkling. 

“What has that to do with it?” asked the Lizard in a very 
cross manner. 

“It has a great deal to do with it,” answered the Snake. 
“Do you mean to say that you have never heard of Stella?” 
“No, I haven’t. It sounds like a star.” 



THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


“You are quite right! ‘Stella’ means ‘star,’ but Stella is 
the name of the fairy who can make any wish come true. I 
think your wish is to be every color at once—you seem to want 
a great deal! Still,” and he stopped to think a moment— 
“you might tell Stella what you wish and you may find that 
perhaps she can do something for you.” 

“Where does she live?” the Lizard asked in a very excited 
way. “Tell me, where does she live?” 

“At the End-of-the-earth,” answered the Snake. 

“Where is that?” 


“Over there,” and the snake 
pointed what direction it was with his 
head. 

“Is it very far away?” 

“Very.” 

“I don’t care.” The Lizard was 
almost screaming by this time. “I 
don’t care a bit, I am going—and I 
am going now. Now show me ex¬ 
actly, how do I start?” 

“Turn halfway around,” the Snake 
told him, “and keep straight on until you reach the End-of- 
the-earth. You will get there sometime.” 

It took the lazy Lizard quite a while to reach Stella; but at 
last he found her. It seemed to him that he had been traveling 
forever. 

When he told her what it was that he wished, Stella had to 




HOW THE LIZARD BECAME A CHAMELEON 


put on her thinking-cap; and what is more, she had to keep it 
on for an awfully long time. It was very hard to think of some 
way to make the Lizard every color at once; but in a few min¬ 
utes the right thought came to her. She sent for her wand. 

“I can’t possibly make you every color at once,” she said, be¬ 
ginning to wave her wand around the Lizard, “but I can make 
you change color so as to be the same color of whatever you 
are walking on.” 

Then she called to her Brownies. 

“I want you to bring me several things,” she told them. 
“Please get me a gray stone, a piece of green moss, a red flower, 
a yellow flower, and also a brown flower.” 

After they had brought her these things, she placed them all 
on the ground between her and the Lizard and began waving 
her wand over him. 

“Now,” she began, “I want you to walk very slowly to me. 
First walk straight over the red flower.” 

As the Lizard did this he turned red! 

“Now, crawl along the moss,” Stella next said. 

Suddenly he changed to a bright green! 

“Now, walk over the stone,” she continued, “and go very 
slowly.” 

As the Lizard walked over the stone he became just as gray 
as was the stone! 

“Step on the yellow flower next.” 

As he obeyed her, the Lizard found he was suddenly quite 
yellow! 


THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


“Try the brown flower,” Stella went on. 

He was brown! He was also the most astonished and de¬ 
lighted Lizard in the world! 

“I am so pleased,” he said, “that somehow I can’t even re¬ 
member my name.” 

“Well,”—and Stella burst 
out laughing—“that is because 
even your name is changed.” 

“What is it now?” and the 
Lizard also began to laugh. 

“You are now a ‘chame¬ 
leon,’ ” was the fairy’s answer. 
“You ought to be happy be¬ 
cause after this you will be quite safe in your own color. You 
will always be the same shade as whatever you stand on.” 

All the way home the little Chameleon walked across differ¬ 
ent colored things so as to have the pleasure of seeing himself 
change. It was lots of fun and he was very happy. 

He was lying on the brown stem of a vine the next time he 
saw the green snake, and until the Chameleon called to him 
the Snake never even noticed him, because he was the same 
brown as the stem! Then the Chameleon told the Snake all 
about his trip to the End-of-the-earth, and the Snake was so 
surprised that he told every one he met about the Chameleon, 
and every one he told the story to was terribly curious and 
went immediately to make a visit on the Chameleon, so that for 
days he was kept busy walking around and changing color. 



HOW THE LIZARD BECAME A CHAMELEON 


He was too busy to even be lazy, which was a good thing, for 
no one ought ever be lazy. 





XIII 


MR. AND MRS. FROG GO BACK TO STELLA 


I T was a very hot day. 

Around the lake where the frogs lived there were 

- ever so many of them playing in the cool water. 

All of a sudden there was a terrible noise at one 
end of the lake, and every one who heard it rushed 
over to see what was the trouble. 

What do you think it was? 

Two big bull-frogs were having a fight! I don’t 
know what it was about though. 

Have you ever seen frogs fighting? 

One jumped at the other full on the nose, then he 
backed away and jumped once more, and this time he bit the 
other frog on the side, and then, after backing away again, he 









MR. AND MRS. FROG GO BACK TO STELLA 


rushed and grabbed him by one of his legs. Holding it tight 
in his mouth, he swam off as quickly as he could, dragging the 
other frog behind him. They were both screaming “Ptooo,— 
ptooo,—ptooo,” as loud as they could, but there was no one to 
hear them except the frogs who had gathered around the edge 
of the lake to watch the fight. Each and every one of them 
was calling “Ptooo,—ptooo,—ptooo,” and as there were very 
many of them, you never heard such a noise in your life! 



At last, when the two frogs were tired of fighting, the big 
one who had hold of the other one’s leg, let him go. He had 
almost bitten the poor foot off. Then the big one went back to 
the edge of the lake, where all the other frogs were waiting to 
ask him what the fight had been about. 

He first saw Mrs. Frog, and hopped straight over to the 
stone on which she was sitting. 

“What happened?” she asked him, as soon as he had jumped 
up beside her. “Why were you so angry, and why did you 
hurt that poor other frog so? Are you hurt?” 

“Of course, I’m not hurt,” he answered proudly. “The 
whole thing began when that other frog caught a fat white fly 
that got away from me. I only missed the fly because I 

















THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


couldn’t quite make my mouth reach far enough. It made 
me angry so I thought I would punish the other frog. Before 
I knew it we were having an awful fight. I wish that my 
mouth were bigger. I am going to see Stella.” 

“Who is Stella, and what has she to do with your having a 
larger mouth?”—and Mrs. Frog laughed. 

“Don’t you remember the time you and I went with Mr. 
Turtle to the End-of-the-earth to see the Wishing-Fairy? 
Don’t you remember getting tired and riding the rest of the 
way on the Turtle’s back? Don’t tell me you have forgotten!” 

“No, indeed,” answered Mrs. Frog. “I remember now; 
but I also remember that when we saw Stella and she asked 
you if you had a wish, you said that you hadn’t. Now, 
you—” 

“Now, yes, I have a wish,” Mr. Frog interrupted, “a big 
wish; so I’m going back and tell her about it.” 

“Well, what is it?” asked Mrs. Frog, who was very curious. 
She was always asking questions; some of them he could an¬ 
swer, but a great many he could 
not; and when he could not, he 
would swim away and leave her 
alone until she had forgotten the 
question. That would make 
Mrs. Frog awfully angry. 

“Very well, if you must know, 
I will tell you,” began Mr. 
Frog, after thinking a moment. 





MR. AND MRS. FROG GO BACK TO STELLA 


“When that nice fat white fly got away from me and that other 
frog caught him, it annoyed me very much. The only reason 
he got away is that my mouth isn’t big enough. I want a 
wide, large, stretchy mouth—an enormous one. What do you 
think about it?” 

“I think it is a wonderful idea,” she answered. “In fact, I 
would like to have one too. Flies are hard to catch, and I 
find that often when I snap at them, I cannot quite make my 
mouth reach either. Yes, it’s a good idea.” 

“Do you want to come with me and also ask Stella for a 
large mouth?” Mr. Frog asked. 

“Yes, indeed!” Mrs. Frog answered. 

“Well, come along then. I want to go now,”—and as Mr. 
Frog said this he started in the direction of the End-of-the- 
earth. 

Poor Mrs. Frog couldn’t travel quite as fast as he could, so in 
a few minutes she called out, 

“Don’t hop so quickly. I can’t possibly keep up with you.” 

Then they traveled much slower, but after a long while they 
finally reached the home of Stella. 

“Hello!” said Stella. “It’s a long time since we have seen 
each other—since the day you came with the Turtle.” 

“What a good memory you have!” Mrs. Frog said in an as¬ 
tonished way. 

“I never forget anything,” Stella continued. “I also re¬ 
member how much we all laughed—and I remember that you 
said you had no wish, and I was surprised at that; because 


THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


every one I see always has a wish. It seems to me as though 
every one and everything in the world has some kind of a 
wish.” 

“Do you remember telling me if I should ever wish for 
something I must come to you?” Mr. Frog asked her. “Well, 
here I am.” 

Mrs. Frog suddenly joined in: “We came,” she whispered 
to the Fairy, “because we both wish that we could have our 
mouths made large and stretchy.” 

“Could you do that for us?” asked Mr. Frog, anxiously, as 
he hopped closer to Stella. 

It wasn’t very long before the frogs had what they wanted, 
and they were delighted. 

They hopped up close to one another and stood face to face, 
and Mr. Frog stretched his mouth as wide as he could make it 
stretch, so as to be quite sure that Mrs. Frog’s mouth was no 
larger than his. 

Stella burst out laughing at him. 

“Don’t worry,” she said to him. “Mrs. Frog’s mouth is no 
larger than yours. If you measure them, you will find they 
are both just the same, and now you can catch as many flies 
as you wish—and big ones too.” 

After she had told him this, they seemed satisfied. 

They thanked her very much, and started for home. 

You should have seen the pond where the frogs lived 
after they reached it. 

All the frogs in the place came up to them and made them 


MR. AND MRS. FROG GO BACK TO STELLA 



open wide their mouths and looked at their lips and even their 
throats, so that they would know all about them. 

Mr. and Mrs. Frog felt very important, and when an enor¬ 
mous moth flew by and Mr. Frog snapped at it, and his mouth 
was large enough to gobble it up, he was just about as proud 
as a frog could be. 

So was Mrs. Frog. 

Every frog in that pond then suddenly had a wish—they all 
had the same wish—and the wish was to have a mouth big 
enough to swallow a tremendous moth, such as they had just 
seen Mr. Frog gobble up. 

All of a sudden they started for the End-of-the-earth. 
There were hundreds and hundreds of frogs, all hopping along 
as fast as they could, and each one croaking as loud as he could 
about his wish. They were awfully excited, and later on, after 
they had seen Stella, they were very happy; for she made their 
wish come true—so now you know how the Frog got his big 
mouth and why. Don’t you? 










































LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



□□0ES7SDflfl3 





























